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Most fertile when?

Hi there,

I have just read a reply post from a lovely lady who has explained when a lady is most fertile. If she is correct in saying what she has said, then i have it all wrong! Which doesnt surprise me... So I always thought that your ovulation date started exactly half way through your cycle. So if your cycle is 28 days, then your ovulation starts on day 14. My cycle is actually 36 days so I thought my ovulation date would be day 18. What I have read is that its always day 14? So if my cycle is 36 days, 14 days into it would be my ovulation and then I would have another 22 days until my next period. Can someone confirm or clarify?

Figuring out the fertile window can be difficult until you know exactly what to look for.

If a woman has a good luteal phase (this is the 2nd half of her cycle) then she will ovulate about 14 days before the first day of her next period. If she has a short luteal phase, she may ovulate 10 days before her next period.

If your cycle is 36 days long, and you have a good "normal" luteal phase of 14 days, then you would be ovulating around day 22 in your cycle. If you are ovulating on day 22 of your cycle, then most likely the egg has aged too long before ovulation, and is not capable of being fertilized.

If you have a short luteal phase (let's say only 10 days instead of 14 days) then you might ovulate on day 26 of your cycle and start bleeding 10 days later. The problem with a short luteal phase is that if you do conceive, there's not enough time for the embryo to implant well before the lining of the uterus is shed (before your period starts). In this case, many women may actually conceive but have a very early miscarriage before they even realize they were pregnant.

The thing that concerns me most and that I would address first is the long, 36 day cycle. Would really like to see that become closer to 30 days and there are some things you can do help balance hormones so that you have a good follicular phase (the first half of your cycle, before ovulation) and so that you have a good luteal phase. If the follicular phase is too short, the egg doesn't have enough time to develop to a point where it can be fertilized before it is released. If this phase is too long, the egg takes too long to develop and becomes "old" before it is released.

Sometimes the egg won't be released at all, and the follicle which holds the egg during development will become a cyst on the ovary. If you get too many cysts, it makes it harder for a follicle to rupture and ovulation can't occur.

Do you know for sure if you are ovulating each month? If so, how are you confirming this?

Thank You Kate!

WOW. Thank you Kate! You have explained this so well!

The thing is my cycle has always been 28-30 days - always. It only changed to 36 days about 3 months ago. Noting I have moved to the other side of the country (away from my family), changed careers and got married so I have been thinking stress has had alot to do with this.

To answer your question, yes and no. About 2 years ago I started getting some pains (not really bad pains) but just a few aches here and there in the middle of my cycle. I have read that this is a sign of ovulation. So I do get these pains but certainly not every month. My mum has also told me that another sign of ovulation is sticky discharge and I have noticed that as well, possibly not every month but yes I do get that. I have never thought to think about the dates of when these things happen until now as were trying for a baby. Are these signs correct in saying im ovulating? Are there any other signs of ovulation that I can look out for?

All in all im confident my cycle will go back to normal (28-30 days) soon now that im back to some sort of normality.

It sounds like you've made a lot of big changes in the past few months. Stress can impact your body in many ways, so it could be contributing to the change in your cycle.

However, I would want to rule out the possibility that your cycles were artificially manipulated to be 28 days, by the hormonal birth control pills you were taking.

Often times a doctor will put a woman on birth control pills to regulate her cycle - but she won't be able to get pregnant if she's on these pills. The problem happens when she stops taking her pills, and as the hormones are moved out of the body, her cycles will be a more accurate indication of what her fertility actually is.

Your mom was on the right track when she said that another sign of ovulation is discharge. However, it's not the "sticky" discharge you're looking for. It's the "wet and slippery" discharge that indicates ovulation will be soon. That discharge looks and feels like egg white.

We have an entire thread that is dedicated to helping you learn how to read your body's personal signs of fertility.

Another thing that's very helpful is to use an ovulation predictor test. With the ovulation predictor tests you start testing every day as soon as you see your mucus/discharge change or about 5 days before you think you're going to ovulate. Just remember to read the directions, and test in the afternoon, not in the morning (it's the opposite of what you do with a pregnancy test).

Let me know if you have any questions once you learn how to read your cervical mucus changes.